Rural Town Fiction

A historic western that opens in 1873, a time when recession is forcing thousands westwards to recoup their fortunes. The West is tough, brutal and the Indian is the enemy. But when a white woman is raped, it is a half-breed Cheyenne who comes to the rescue. From the author of Jake and Upland Passage.

Missing Links is the story of four middle-class buddies who live outside Boston and play golf together at Ponkaquogue Municipal Golf Links and Deli, not so fondly known as Ponky. An 18-hole garbage dump with hazards that include a concrete river surrounded by a chain-link fence and the pillars of the elevated train that runs through the course, it is reputed to be the worst golf course in America.

After the end of a long-term relationship, local weather girl Bea Armstrong has been avoiding her family, and their inevitable 'I-told-you-sos'. But with Christmas fast approaching, she is finally on her way home to Charis House, the school in Sherwood Forest that her mum and dad run in their old family home. And to top it all off, the insufferable Henry Fairfax—who her parents have always wanted her to marry—has also been invited.

It is a hot summer in rural Ireland. A child is taken by her father to live with relatives on a farm, not knowing when or if she will be brought home again. In the Kinsellas' house, she finds an affection and warmth she has not known and slowly, in their care, begins to blossom. But there is something unspoken in this new household—where everything is so well tended to—and this summer must soon come to an end.

I’ve never sought a savior, especially not a billionaire. But when a charming, single dad returns to my small town, memories stir of our shared past and our future feels increasingly intertwined. As the town's new Doctor, Hudson Hamilton is hard to ignore. Not only is he now in charge of my moms medical needs, but he is also best friends with my boss.

Her heart is wild. Only he can capture it. When Cole Ashby is appointed Laurel Creek's interim sheriff, he is determined to prove himself as the best man for the job. A devoted single dad, his goal is to lay steady roots for his young daughter. As the daughter of a Kentucky congressman, Ginger Danforth's life has always been about neat appearances. But inside, she's dying to break free and embrace the sense of adventure that runs through her veins.

N'attendez plus : le phénomène TikTok planétaire arrive enfin en France ! Lorsque la tante de Jeanie lui confie le Pumpkin Spice Café, lieu de rencontre bien-aimé de la petite ville de Dream Harbor, la jeune femme saute sur l'occasion pour prendre un nouveau départ, loin de son travail de bureau déprimant. Logan, un agriculteur local, a beau se tenir à l'écart de la communauté et de ses ragots, l'arrivée de Jeanie vient le perturber dans sa routine. Lui qui ne veut rien savoir de cette fille à l'optimisme agaçant est pourtant inexplicablement attiré par elle.

As a packless omega baker hiding my designation in sleepy Lakeview, I've built my reputation on perfectly laminated dough rather than mating bonds. But as steam rises from the annual Baking Festival ovens, three irresistible alphas begin circling my demonstration table with hungry eyes.

In the romantic tradition of The Notebook and Nights in Rodanthe, number-one New York Times best-selling author Nicholas Sparks returns with a story about a chance encounter that becomes a touchstone for two vastly different individuals - transcending decades, continents, and the bittersweet workings of fate.

For one brief hour on a sunny Texas morning, amateur baker Rosie Hart glimpses the life she’s always dreamed about - thanks to a surprise inheritance from the late Miss Alice. But her benefactor is barely cold in the ground when Rosie is accused of her murder. As the only stranger in the tight-knit Airlie Falls community, and the only person with an obvious motive, all eyes turn to Rosie. Especially when more bodies begin to pile up and mysterious letters from the grave start circulating faster than Rosie can pull a tray of cherry nut clusters out of the oven.

When Jenny inherits her estranged grandmother’s cottage in Sherwood Forest, she has nothing to lose - no money, no job, no friends, no family to speak of, and zero self-respect. Things can only get better.... Her grumpy but decidedly handsome new neighbour, Mack, has a habit of bestowing unsolicited good deeds on her. And when Jenny is welcomed into a rather unusual book club, life seems to finally be getting more interesting. Instead of reading, the members pledge to complete individual challenges before Christmas.

Pastry chef Tessa Montgomery knows what everyone in Blossom Glen says about her. Spinster. Ice Queen. Such a shame. It’s enough to make a woman bake her troubles away, dreaming of Parisian delicacies while she makes bread at her mother’s struggling boulangerie. That is, it is until Tessa’s mortal enemy — deliciously handsome (if arrogant) chef Leo Castorini, who owns the restaurant next door — proposes a business plan…to get married.

Sierra Ravenswood is the new part-time employee of the Flower House, a flower shop in Aerieville, Tennessee. Things take a decidedly negative turn when a customer drops dead in the middle of her new bouquet-arranging workshop at the store. The town is on edge, and Sierra knows that murder is something that an upbeat attitude and a bouquet of sweet-smelling roses can't fix. She's determined to figure out whodunit, before anyone else in town meets an untimely reason for needing funeral flowers.

When Harland Cain holds a .45 automatic to his head and bears down slowly upon the trigger, he experiences a profound sense of control over his destiny for the first time in his life. He savors the moment and imagines the click of the hammer, the explosion, and the bullet spiraling through the barrel before everything turns black. It's then he hears the out-of-control screaming of tires on the pavement, followed by the sickening sound of metal crashing against concrete. He lays down the pistol and crosses his yard in that predawn darkness to find a young boy, bloody and dazed.

Jimmy Lee Hickam grew up along Red Dog Road, a dead-end strip of gravel and mud buried deep in the bowels of Appalachian Ohio. It is the poorest road, in the poorest county, in the poorest region of the state. To make things worse, the name Hickam is synonymous with trouble. Jimmy Lee hails from a heathen mix of thieves, moonshiners, drunkards, and general anti-socials that for decades have clung to both the hardscrabble hills and the iron bars of every jail cell in the region. This life, Jimmy Lee believes, is his destiny, someday working with his drunkard father at the sawmill, or sitting next to his arsonist brother in the penitentiary.

Eve Abbott has a problem - actually, make that a lot of problems. And they're all going to get worse the moment her toes hit the sand in Matchmaker Bay. Once a blissful summer escape, the tiny town now just reminds Eve of loss. Inheriting her aunt's beloved Mermaid Inn is the only reason Eve is coming back. She's definitely not ready to handle nosy neighbors, extensive renovations, or the discovery that a certain heartbreaker still lives down the street....

Abby Curtis has made such a mess of her life that rock bottom is an ambitious climb. With nowhere else to go, she lands on her Aunt Reva's doorstep at Buckaroo Barn, home to a motley assortment of rescue animals. Reva, a telepathic animal communicator, gives Abby time to reinvent herself by leaving Abby in charge of the farm while she's away. Abby immerses herself in caring for the animals and running educational programs to teach kids to appreciate and relate to them. Just when Abby is finally starting to feel like herself again, a sexy new neighbor moves in next door.

Barnes, the supervisor of a Hot Shot wildfire suppression crew, is haunted by the season past, when many members of his dedicated, young team were killed in a Colorado forest fire that went all wrong, scorching the Hot Shots as they fled, some as they struggled into their fire shelters. He wakes each morning in the presence of their ghosts as they proceed across his bedroom or assemble at his kitchen table, their eyes asking questions that he cannot answer.

I'm Aria Delgado, and this is my story. Ten years ago, my fiancé betrayed me in the worst way—he chose my sister. I swore I'd never set foot on Longhorn Ranch again. But now, I don't have a choice. My father is gone, the family ranch is on the verge of collapse, and half of it belongs to me, the other half to my sister, and she can't sell it fast enough. I won't let that happen. My ancestral home is more than dirt and fences—it's my legacy. But the odds are stacked against me. The debts are too high, and someone is trying to drive me out of my land.

When her 12-year-old son, Noah, gets expelled from school just weeks before Christmas, recently widowed Charlotte is at a loss. With nowhere else to turn, feeling defeated and alone, she’s drawn to her mother-in-law, Dot and her country store in the small town of St Martins. What starts as a desperate attempt to regain control soon becomes an unexpected season of healing, connection, and rediscovering the magic of the holidays, at The Old Mill.